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Festivals of Light
Anglicanism
Archbishop of
Canterbury's 2004 Advent
Pastoral Letter
Archbishop
of Canterbury's 2004
Christmas Message
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My dear brothers and sisters:
During these hectic days leading up to Christmas we are invited to pause,
reflect and prepare ourselves to receive anew the One who comes among us
as a newborn child. The readings appointed for the Advent season have to
do with waiting and listening with expectant and hope-filled hearts for
the Prince of Peace. Such waiting and expectation is a sharp contradiction
to much that surrounds us and to the fear and hostility that abound across
our globe. Also at this time, the forces of nature have conspired to
underscore our vulnerability and the impermanence of the mark we make upon
the earth. This is not an easy season in which to live.
Recently I found myself waiting in an airport, as I often do, and was
caught up in the discrepancy between what I was reading in the newspaper
before me and what I was hearing from a near-by television set. The
subject was the same but the interpretations were completely different and
the language used to defend the positions was fiercely polarizing. Where
did the truth lie?
In this season of Advent, as we make our way toward Bethlehem and ponder
once again the great mystery of the Incarnation, I find myself reflecting
upon the fact that speech or word is the medium of divine self-disclosure:
"the word was made flesh and lived among us." I am also reminded that in
Hebrew dabar, which means word, also can mean event or occurrence. Words
are not only spoken, they happen. In the Book of Genesis God speaks
creation into being, and in the Incarnation God speaks his love into flesh
in the person of Jesus. Divine speech conveys more than information, it
conveys God's ever-creating and self-giving love as an active force and
power. Words therefore can possess a sacramental value and speaking can be
a sacred act.
Even so, we see and hear around us language increasingly being used to
inflame, mislead, polarize and otherwise divide. This is true not only in
our national life but in some measure in our church as well. This is not
to say that dissent or criticism are unwelcome, or that all voices should
be harmonious, but simply that words matter because words matter to God
and therefore they should not be the means to unholy ends. Words should
not be the product of our fears and hostilities. Holy words can sometimes
cloak unholy sentiments and purposes. As Paul tells us, Satan is able to
masquerade as an angel of light. The language we use to describe and
address those whose opinions differ from our own can either foster or
destroy the possibility of discovering Christ in our midst beyond or below
the level of our disagreements. Therefore, words should be used in the
fullness of their potential to convey something of God's loving care which
embraces the whole creation.
"If I speak with the tongues of mortals and of angels, but have not love,"
Paul tells us, "I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol." Our speech may be
filled with righteousness yet if it lacks the animating force of love the
words, however noble and true, will have little chance of revealing
Christ. When we are defensive or threatened it is well to remember that in
such situations, as Jesus tells us, "the Holy Spirit will teach you at
that very hour what you ought to say." Through the agency of the Spirit,
Christ enlivens our speech often by forming in us words which we had not
intended to say: words of grace and healing and hope which open a way
forward such as we had never imagined and catch us all by surprise. At
such moments anger dissipates and is replaced by mercy, and judgment is
transmuted to understanding. I have certainly been overtaken by such
moments and I am sure you have been as well. Such is the nature of God's
grace.
As we contemplate the outpouring of God's self-giving love through which
the Word became flesh in Jesus, we might take a counter cultural step and
attend with greater care to the words we speak and the words we write. Let
us pray our words may carry with them what God most truly wishes to
express.
May Jesus, the Word made flesh, speak his love deep within us. And may our
words be his word of reconciliation which has overcome all division and
gives hope to our needy world.
+ Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop
[Note: The Presiding Bishop's
Christmas message will be available in French at
www.episcopalchurch.org/ens
next week.]
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